New Measurement of ¹²C+ ¹²C Fusion Reaction at Astrophysical Energies.

ABSTRACT: Carbon and oxygen burning reactions, in particular, ¹²C + ¹²C fusion, are important for the understanding and interpretation of the late phases of stellar evolution as well as the ignition and nucleosynthesis in cataclysmic binary systems such as type Ia supernovae and x-ray superbursts. A new measurement of this reaction has been performed at the University of Notre Dame using particle-γ coincidence techniques with SAND (a silicon detector array) at the high-intensity 5U Pelletron accelerator.  PRL124, 192702 (2020)

Coincident measurement of the ¹²C+¹²C fusion cross section via the differential thick-target technique.

The ¹²C+¹²C fusion reaction is critical for the understanding and interpretation of the late phases of stellar evolution as well as the ignition and nucleosynthesis in cataclysmic binary systems such as type Ia thermonuclear supernovas and x-ray superbursts. Direct measurement of this reaction has been performed at the University of Notre Dame using particle-γ coincidence and differential thick-target techniques with SAND (a silicon detector array) at the high-intensity 5U Pelletron accelerator. Partial cross section results for the channels of p₁ to p₁₀ and α₁ at center-of-mass energies of 2.65–5 MeV that are relevant to nuclear astrophysics are reported. The total S^∗(E) factor is constructed by taking into account contributions from the missing channels. The recommended reaction rate and its impact on the carbon burning process under astrophysical scenarios will be discussed. PRC110, 035808 (2024)